Visitors to downtown Huntsville know the drill: when it’s busy, circle the blocks around Main Street and hope to find an elusive parking spot. It’s a problem that’s getting worse the busier Huntsville gets and the Town is looking to the public for suggestions on how to fix it.
Town staff and BIA representatives held an open house on Tuesday, July 5 to gather comments from the public about solutions to these parking woes.
The biggest challenge, of course, is finding ways to create space on already restricted roadways for more parking spots. “We’ve built so close to the roads over the years that you can’t expand,” said Brandon Hall, Engineering Technician with the Town of Huntsville. “You’re roadblocked, as I like to say.”
Some of the suggestions mentioned either previously or at the open house include making some streets one way to free up space for angled parking, opening up Caroline Street beside Huntsville Public School to parking when school is out, expanding parking into surrounding streets, requiring employees working downtown to park farther away, and implementing paid parking or time limits. The parking lot at the former Dollarama is an oft-touted solution but it’s currently privately owned property.
Creating parking space outside of the downtown core with buses coming into the area is another option, but as with most of the possible solutions it comes with a price tag.
“No matter what we do, there will be a cost involved,” said Hall. “Tell us what you want, and we’ll see if we can make it happen.”
The Town is accepting comments until Friday, July 8 at 4:30 pm. Copies of the map below and a comment form are available at the Customer Service desk on the second floor of Town Hall. The form asks, “Where would you like to see additional parking withing the BIA limits?” This is your opportunity to have a say.
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